Babbitt's Common Sense Vs. Dukakis' Pie In Sky

August 2, 1987|By Douglas Pike of the Sentinel Staff

Close your eyes. Just suppose a balsa-headed president and a spineless Congress had added $1 trillion to the nation's debt in the 1980s. In picking the next president, don't you think Americans might well scout for a governor or a mayor -- someone who actually has balanced a budget every year?

Among Democrats, the two who meet that standard -- Mike Dukakis and Bruce Babbitt -- differ starkly on how to balance the budget. Babbitt, a dark horse who used to govern Arizona, talks sense. Gov. Dukakis of Massachusetts, a hot property with the biggest Democratic war chest, blows smoke.

Mind you, Dukakis probably would act responsibly if elected. A Harvard Law grad just like Babbitt, he's smart enough (and at 53 he's old enough) to know that gimmicks can't end $175 billion deficits. The only cure requires pain: spending cuts plus higher taxes. But for now, Dukakis sticks with the other Democratic sheep in going, ''Ba-a-a-a.''

Babbitt spoke the truth last week before Democratic governors and later at the National Press Club. And as if to show how hard it is to avoid being labeled a tax addict, reporters played up his call for at least $40 billion from a new tax, not his demand for spending cuts just as big. Unlike most hopefuls, he names specific cuts in federal payments to the non-needy: from agribusiness to wealthy Social Security beneficiaries.

To raise more money, Babbitt pushes a tax on consumption -- either at the retail level or a value-added tax as in Europe. None of his rivals likes it; none has a credible alternative. And their cheap criticism that low-income people would pay an unfair share is easily refuted. First, that can be fixed by exempting basics such as food, medicine and clothing. Second, the knock about ''unfairness'' unfairly disregards his plan to slash federal benefits to the non-needy.

By contrast, Dukakis has a ludicrous plan for bringing in more revenue. Citing the fact that the IRS fails to collect more than $100 billion in taxes owed every year, ''Duke'' says let's do it -- by tougher enforcement and by a one-time amnesty for tax evaders. Echoing Reaganomics, the dream is to gain without pain. Let's get the money from a bunch of no-good, lowdown deadbeats. What a relief to know that Washington can start paying its bills, but you and I won't feel a bigger burden.

Let's get real. The IRS opposes any such amnesty because by rewarding cheats now, it might encourage cheating later. Sure, amnesties by many states have brought in several hundred million dollars, but many of them came after years of weak state efforts to force tax compliance. That's not the situation at the IRS, though every year Congress claims that by tightening up IRS once again, it can get a couple billion dollars more to help close the deficit. Dukakis simply is recycling Congress' old joke.

Dukakis and the rest seem to think that Americans can't handle an excercise in simple math that the typical high-school freshman could do. Presumably, such honesty would spoil the let's-get-moving mood music that yuppies allegedly are so keen to hear.

Maybe it's true. But I hope Babbitt has it right: ''There's a lot of common sense in this country and it's the leaders who are failing.''